Pivoted hand tools, such as scissors, are widely used. For accuracy and convenience, certain scissors are commonly provided with a guide attached to one of the blades to enable a user to more precisely position the material to be cut relative to the blades. An example of a pair of scissors having a guide is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 384,710 issued on Jun. 19, 1888 to Peters. Peters discloses a scissors for cutting button holes. The scissors include an upper jaw having a cutter knife configured to an elongated slot in a piece of cloth, and a lower jaw to which an adjustable gage is attached. While relatively simple in construction, adjusting the guide requires a user to stop cutting, loosen a bolt, slide the guide to another desired position, tighten the bolt, and then resume cutting.
Another example of a pair of scissors having a guide is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 1,251,101 issued on Dec. 25, 1917 to Quigley. Quigley discloses a pair of scissors with a guide for severing tape into portions at right angles to its length. The channel-shaped guide, which is secured to one of the blades to control the presentation of the tape to the blades, includes opposed, parallel guiding flanges extending at right angles to the line of cut. Although the guide assists the user in cutting straight lines, it is not adjustable for cutting tape substantially smaller or larger than the width of the channel. Additionally, the guide is not provided with any means for controlling the length of the tape to be cut.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,305 issued on Oct. 14, 1980 to Newman discloses a pair of scissors having a channel-shaped guide and a measuring gauge primarily adapted for cutting blind strips so as to provide a finished end at the cut end of the strip. The guide, which is attached to one side of one of the blades, has a flat bottom surface bounded by side flanges. The measuring gauge, which is secured to the other side of the same blade, includes a scale and a stop slidably received in an elongated slot formed in the gauge. The user can align the stop with a graduation on the scale and then secure the stop at that position. Although the gauge is adjustable, the guide is not configured to cut pieces of a width other than that of the channel-shaped guide. Furthermore, the scissors of Newman includes a significant number of components, thereby increasing the cost of such an item.
Finally, another example of a pair of scissors including a guide is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 368,418 issued on Apr. 2, 1996 to Aida. The scissors in Aida are apparently designed to cut tape.
While, as discussed in the foregoing, certain prior art scissors are provided with guides of various configurations, most of these scissors do not allow the user to cut a corner portion of a sheet of paper or other material. As for the scissors illustrated in the Aida patent, they do not seem to include features permitting the user to adjust the amount of material being cut. Thus, it appears desirable to provide a pair of scissors that alleviate some of the shortcomings associated with conventional prior art items, but which are nevertheless engineered such that they can be of relatively low cost.